Editor’s note: Nine months after businesses selling recreational marijuana opened across Colorado, some communities are still debating whether they should allow the shops within their borders. In April, the Jeffco Board of Commissioners appointed a task force to study the issue. This week, the commission will hear the results of its reports, excerpted below.

The task force found compelling evidence that it would not be in the best interest of Jefferson County or its citizens to allow marijuana establishments. Although the circumstantial evidence was significant, it is important to note that Colorado’s experience with legalizing recreational marijuana is relatively new and some data is lacking.

It will take another two to four years to be able to totally assess the impact of legalizing recreational marijuana based on data and facts, not rhetoric. However, there is compelling evidence to support the position that the probable and possible consequences are sufficiently negative that the best decision is to ban marijuana establishments.

Some of the negative impacts discovered by the task force include:

Public safety impact

There is a probability that overall crime will increase. Applied logic would suggest that whenever there is an increase in people under the influence of any drug, crime would be impacted. This is particularly true with youth who often engage in risky behavior that studies have shown increase with marijuana use.

• The legalization of recreational marijuana in 2013 has demonstrated that marijuana-impaired driving will likely increase. Seventy-seven percent of the Colorado State Patrol’s 2014 Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) Program incidents involved marijuana and 42 percent were for marijuana alone.

• Students being referred to law enforcement for incidents related to marijuana have increased 45 percent since the commercialization of medical marijuana.

• Recent experience in Denver shows an increase in citations for public consumption of marijuana from 2013 to 2014.

• Sale or production of marijuana is a federal violation which pre-empts state or local law. A marijuana establishment is a criminal enterprise under federal law.

• A new administration could elect to enforce the law, subjecting those engaged in the marijuana business to prosecution and the assets subject to seizure.

• There is a probability that the overall societal cost in the future will far outweigh revenue. The experience with alcohol and tobacco supports that position.

Business impact

• A survey of business owners in unincorporated Jefferson County shows that 51 percent believe marijuana establishments would detract from the quality of life and image of the county. Only 28 percent believed it would enhance the quality of life and image of the county.

• From a business perspective, there is a concern that property values would be adversely impacted, including some environmental concerns.

In a Jefferson County tele forum poll, 72 percent of the respondents said that they did not want recreational marijuana sales in unincorporated Jefferson County, while 74 percent said marijuana sales would harm the lives of Jefferson County residents.

Other task force members signing onto this report were Lin Browning, president/CEO of the Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Mark Johnson, Jefferson County Public Health; James McCormick, vice president for Student Life, Colorado Christian University; Charles Tingle, Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office; John Wolforth, Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Division; Patricia Woodin, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; and Donna Viverette, Jefferson County Public Health.